Servants?
by ElissaArdent
Summary: Dumbledore has decided that it would be a good learning opportunity if some of the students acted as others servants, like a butler of sorts. The students are assigned in pairs and swap roles as Dumbledore randomly decides, sometimes once a week others twice a day. Main pairing Neville/Draco. Others to be added. Please Review! Fluff.
1. Chapter 1

Harry, Ron, Neville, Dean, and Seamus sat in their pajamas, up in their dorm room, and gathered on Ron's bed. All of them had been quite shocked by Dumbledore's announcement, but were mostly content with their partners. Harry had been paired with Ron, which they were both fine with, and Seamus had been paired with Dean. The one person of their dorm who hadn't been paired with another in it was Neville.

"Who's your partner, Neville?" Dean asked, curious as the other boys.

"Oh, well I was one of the last picked so I ended up with someone from another house," Neville hoped the others would accept that answer and leave him be.

"But who?" Seamus crushed Neville's hopes.

Neville kept quiet. It wasn't that he was terribly upset with his partner. He really didn't mind, it was the fact that the others were likely to get much more upset.

"Come on tell us!" Ron prodded, elbowing Neville lightly.

"Fine!" but Neville only continued in a whisper, "Malfoy."

"Who? Speak up."

"Its fine if he doesn't want to tell us," Harry was the only boy who wasn't nagging on Neville. Neville gave him a grateful smile.

"It can't be that big of a deal!"

"Unless it was a Slytherin."

"That'd be terrible!" Seamus agreed.

"Well was it?"

Neville finally gave, "It was Malfoy alright. Happy now?"

"Malfoy?" Both Ron and Seamus shouted this nearly at once. In response both Harry and Dean smacked them on the back of the head. Both of them then asked, "What was that for?" at nearly the same time.

"Now you see why he didn't want to say. He knew you'd act like that," Dean explained.

"You were curious too," Seamus retorted rubbing his head.

"But I only asked once. See the difference?" Seamus mumbled but said nothing. Dean turned to Neville, "What did Malfoy think? Did he say anything?"

Neville shook his head, "He didn't say anything much. He stared at Dumbledore for a bit, then stomped off sulking."

"Really? No yelling or threatening to tell his father?" Ron asked.

"Nope. He didn't even look at me when he left."

"Right git! Not even acknowledging you!" Seamus found something else to fuss about.

"You ignore him too, ya know," Dean pointed out.

"That's different!" Seamus protested punching Dean's arm, "Right Neville?"

"Yeah, I know you just get distracted."

Seamus almost protested but kept quiet about it changing the subject, "If he's mean we'll beat 'im up for ya!"

"Or blow them up," Dean whispered in Harry's direction.

"I heard that!" Seamus proceed to assault Dean again, though he wasn't trying to hurt the dark skinned boy. Dean only smiled. Once the pair finished wrestling Harry got them back on topic, "Hopefully this won't last long."

"He might not be that bad," Neville commented, rather quietly.

"That bad?! He'll be awful!" Ron did not share Neville's optimism.

"You're not helping Ron." Harry sighed.

"It's true!" Ron retorted.

The group continued to talk until bedtime. Seamus and Dean, as well as Harry and Ron, would occasionally get into brief fights making Neville somewhat like a third, or maybe fifth, wheel. He was used to that so he didn't really mind, besides Seamus would sometimes use him as a shield so he couldn't say they were ignoring him.

Draco wasn't sure what he thought about being paired with Longbottom. It was a heck of a lot better than being stuck with Potter or Weasley and it wasn't as if Longbottom would be that much of a pain, but still. Every time he was asked who he had been paired with he ignored the question or simply said, "You don't know him." He couldn't have anyone finding out, especially from his house.

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**Please review. Please let me know if there are other groups besides Neville and Draco you'd like to see! **


	2. Chapter 2

Neville wasn't sure how being paired with Malfoy would go, but he was willing to try. Perhaps if he was nice to Malfoy, Malfoy would be good to him. He wasn't going to get his hopes up. He waited at their appointed meeting spot, but it was nearly half an hour before Malfoy arrived, he was of course late.

"Sorry, Snape held me over." There was something off about Malfoy's tone.

"It's okay? So what now, Malfoy?"

"Who's turn is it, Longbottom?"

"Mine today."

"So that means I have to decide what to do?" Malfoy frowned.

"I guess," Neville said with a shrug.

"You're good at herbology right?"

"I guess."

"Good. I need help with an essay."

And that was how Neville ended up helping Malfoy with his herbology essay. He actually rather enjoyed it and couldn't help but smile when Malfoy got frustrated.

"Can't you just write it for me?" Malfoy asked a second time.

"I told you, Professor Sprout would notice. I'm practically telling you what to write. We're nearly done." Neville couldn't contain a laugh.

"Stop laughing Longbottom!" Malfoy punched him in the arm, rather harder than was needed, though he was smiling a bit.

"Sorry," though he laughed again, "Hey, if I'm going to be your butler you should call be by my first name."

"I don't call the butler at home by his first name." Malfoy frowned.

"You know what I mean!"

"Alright, Neville. No let's finish this. You can't leave until we do."

They stayed for another half hour finally finishing around seven at which time they headed back to their own houses.

"So, how'd it go?" Seamus asked as soon as Neville entered the dorm.

"With Draco? Fine. I helped him with his herbology assignment," Neville replied, pulling on his pajamas.

"He made you right his essay?" Ron asked.

"No, I told him and he wrote." Neville finished dressing then sat on his bed.

"You're joking," Ron replied in disbelief.

"Draco isn't that bad, besides he wouldn't want to be caught cheating."

"Draco? When did you start calling him by his first name?" Seamus demanded.

"Just leave him alone will you?" Dean stopped Seamus dragging the irish boy away from Neville, "And you have to listen to be today."

"That goes for you too Ron," Harry hurried to say.

This led to protest from both Ron and Seamus but they eventually gave up going to brush their teeth. Once they were gone Dean came over to Neville, "It did go okay right?"

"Yeah, he was actually tolerable."

"Good, remember we're here if anything goes wrong."

Neville knew they would be, but he had the feeling he would be fine.

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**Please review if you liked it or have suggested activities for them to do. This look longer when I wrote it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry that I haven't updated this. I got sucked into writing one of my other stories in addition to a bit of writers block when it comes to this story.**

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The next day Neville found himself waiting for Draco once again. He didn't mind though since it gave him time to read a Herbology book he'd just gotten from the library on rare plants. Draco turned up after about thirty minutes though it had felt like even less to Neville who had become absorbed in his book. "Snape again?"

"Yeah," Draco sounded irritated, "He seems like he's trying to keep me away. I only got away from him because Dumbledore showed up."

"Really?" Neville finished his page before putting the book into his bag.

Draco nodded, "He said the weirdest thing too. 'Take care of him.' The old fart rarely makes any sense."

Neville shrugged as the pair made their way to the library, "How'd you Herbology essay go?"

"She was impressed. First time I've managed an E. Thanks by the way," Draco smirked seeming proud of himself.

"That's good, you can help me with potions then." The truth was Draco wasn't the best at potions either, he was though far better than Neville, most students were better than Neville.

"Fine, but you might want to throw in a few mistakes to keep Snape from hanging me."

So once again they found themselves sitting in the library, far away from Madam Pince. Draco was surprisingly helpful. He didn't give the exact answers but he did point Neville in the right direction.

As Draco watched Neville work he couldn't contain a chuckle, "What's with your writing?"

Neville looked up, "What about it?"

"It's so girly!" Draco was laughing so hard that he had to cover his mouth to muffle the sound.

"And yours isn't?"

The pair each wrote their own name and the other's on the same piece of paper. While Draco's handwriting was neat and almost like print, Neville's was by far the winner with his small, yet curly letters.

"All you need is a heart over the 'I' and it would look like a girl's." Draco was smiling.

Neville made his best pouting face, frowning slightly. "At least mine's easy to read."

"True. For a love letter maybe."

Somehow they managed to get through the potions essay, with Draco teasing him the entire time. Now Neville was back in the dorm.

"How did today go?" Dean was thankfully the only one there, besides Seamus who was currently conked out.

"Fine. He picked on me about my handwriting, but he wasn't mean, just amused."

Dean nodded, "Good. If only Seamus was that cooperative."

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**The next chapter will likely be a Hogsmeade trip. **

**If you want to see another pair let me know.**


	4. Chapter 4

Today everyone was going down to Hogsmeade. Neville had expected Draco to want to go with his friends, but instead the blonde seemed perfectly willing, and maybe a bit relieved, to be joining Neville instead.

Both of them were bundled up as the weather was quite cool and Neville had has pulled his scarf up to cover his nose. You could still see part of his cheeks which were a rosy pink. Contrastingly Draco's face was as pale as always.

"Is it really that cold to you?" Draco still sounded sarcastic, but Neville could tell that it wasn't as harsh as it once was.

"Terribly." There wasn't any use hiding it.

"Who's day is it anyways?" By that he meant who the 'servant' was.

"I think yours."

Draco nodded, "Good."

"Huh? Why?"

Draco didn't answer instead he pulled of his scarf, "Hold this." Then he pulled off his outer coat, and handed it to Neville, before replacing his scarf. When Neville just stood there holding it he sighed, "Well, put it on!"

"But don't you need it?" Neville just stared at Draco. Giving someone else his coat was entirely out of character.

"I have this one. Besides cold weather doesn't bother me that much. Its not windy even." With what sounded a bit like an insult he began to move off.

Neville decided it was best to pull the coat on and followed Malfoy. "Why did it matter that it was your turn today?"

"So if anyone noticed I gave you my coat they can put it off to that."  
"So its to avoid being seen as nice?"

Draco glanced back at Neville over his shoulder as they neared the village, "Think about it. How do you think they would react to my being nice to you? That would be way too much trouble." Neville guessed that was true. Crab and Goyle would never let Draco hear the end of it.

After a brief discussion on where they should go, and Neville giving no certain answer, Malfoy decided for them. They ended up in a small pub, much smaller than the three broom sticks but far cleaner than the hogshead. As always they ordered  
butter beers.

"So you don't mind coming with me?" Neville was a bit curious as to why he hadn't gone with the other Slytherins.

"No. One can only spend so much time with idiots like Crab and Goyle."

"So that's your reason? I'm better than those two."

Draco grinned, "Yes. Your company is better. Does that help?"

"Not much." Neville smiled too.

They talked about random things for a while, eventually going to Honeydukes. Then back to the school where Neville found the others in the dorm.

"Why does Dumbledore want us to do this so much? Its like he's sending us on dates!" Seamus whinned as Neville entered the dorm.

"The old coot really is having too much fun with this." Ron agreed.

"You do realize what that means right Shay?" Dean climbed onto his bed.

"No. Wh-" Seamus cut himself off and everyone was silent.

Neville took a moment but then realized what that meant too.

**Is it just me or is this everyone? When I use the 'copy and paste' method to upload a chapter it always seems to paste twice.**


	5. Chapter 5

By now spending time with each other had become the norm for both Neville and Draco. Unlike some pairs they tended not to care as much about who's day it was, usually, except when Draco needed an excuse to do something nice. At first Neville had assumed it was just something he had to do, but now he felt that maybe he actually did it just to be nice, something it had taken a while to get used to.

"Guess what Seamus thought this is like?" They were sitting in an empty corridor.

Draco shrugged, "I don't know."

"He said that Dumbledore was arranging this like dates. But then Dean reminded him of what that would mean and he dropped it." Neville had no idea why he felt the need to mention this.

Draco snorted, "That's an interesting thought. I guess that could explain when the old fart told me to take care of you."

Neville smiled, "I guess it could."

"What do your dorm mates think of me anyways?"

"Dean and Harry seem to be giving you a chance. Ron and Seamus still can't stand you."

Draco smirked, "That's to be expected."

"What about yours?" Neville was genuinely curious.

"They're still under the impression that I don't have any choice but to go on our 'dates', to quote Seamus."

"And is that what you think?"

"Of course not. I've got an E in Herbology thanks to you." Draco continued to smirk as he turned to look at Neville.

"Is that all?" Neville raised one eyebrow.

"No, I get to have some decent company. Better?"

Neville nodded, "I guess."

They were on pretty good terms now. They enjoyed the others company and both of them got help with school.

"So how's you date with Malfoy go?" Dean asked as Neville made it back to the room. Dean was always the one to check on Neville, though Harry asked on occasion as well.

"Fine. What about yours with Seamus?" Neville grinned at the look of amused irritation that clouded Dean's face.

"He was a pain as usual. No wonder he's never been asked out."

"That and the fact that he blows everything up."

"That too," Dean admitted.

Neville climbed into bed a bit earlier than usual. The continuing joke of these being 'dates' had gotten him thinking. They were a lot like dates weren't they? Neville pushed that thought out of his mind though as he put that off to how tired he was.

**I'm trying to get their relationship moving. I have lots of cute plans for later on and want to get to them. I'm still going to keep the pace realistic though. Hope you enjoyed this chapter even though it was short. (I was too tired to write anymore.)**


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